Mooresville man accused of repeatedly raping child since 2013

A Mooresville man is accused of repeatedly raping a child over four years before the case was reported to authorities last week.

Iredell County sheriff’s investigators arrested James Robert Tewell, 44, and charged him with 35 counts each of statutory rape and statutory sex offense, five counts each of second-degree rape and second-degree sexual offense, and one count each of rape of a child by an adult offender and sexual offense with a child by an adult offender.

Tewell was in the Iredell County Detention Center on $600,000 bail on Thursday.

Sheriff Darren Campbell said his office received a report last Friday that a child had been sexually assaulted from 2013 to this year.

Investigators interviewed the child at the Dove House Children’s Advocacy Center in Statesville. Several other witnesses were identified and also interviewed, the sheriff said. Investigators are not releasing the child’s age.